Sex Aware

A sex guide advising care homes how to help patients watch porn and use sex toys has been handed out to nurses.

Extra-marital affairs, sex toys and masturbation are also discussed in the leaflet circulated by the Royal College of Nursing.

One example explored how an OAP requested help with masturbation but his request was turned down because staff felt ill-equipped to deal skilfully with the situation. Following expert advice a mechanical masturbation device was provided to pensioner.

Another case study looked at one incident where a resident wanted to bring a sex worker into the home, but the request was declined.

While another discussed how a resident had ask to watch porn in his bedroom and noted the patient should be supported in accessing the entertainment he desired. The patient was allowed to purchase a laptop and agreed sound or visual material would not be able to be heard or viewed by residents or staff.

The often contentious subject of pornography is explored in a new book, which seeks to contribute to the ever developing academic debate on this topic.

The book, Pornographies: Critical Positions is published by the University of Chester Press.

The book is also a milestone in academic writings on this topic, as it marks the shift towards studying pornography beyond the idea that it is simply a manifestation of dangerous patriarchal oppression and provides valuable insights into contemporary culture and politics, and our ideas about gender, sexuality and bodies.

The volume has been edited by Dr Katherine Harrison, Senior Lecturer in Media at Leeds Beckett University; and Dr Cassandra Ogden, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Liverpool John Moores University.

Dr Katherine Harrison said:

Pornography is no longer considered to be a single, homogenous 'thing'. Nor are debates about pornography limited to the reductive anti-porn versus anti-censorship controversies of the mid-20th century. Whether we like it or not, porn is a major part of global culture, economy and society and -- if only by that virtue alone -- deserves to be studied seriously. The Internet is ubiquitous in our everyday lives and its significances and effects are widely studied on Social Sciences degrees. However, one of the major uses of the Internet is the production, dissemination and consumption of pornography and this is rarely studied directly at undergraduate level. The book aims to address this omission by making the academic study of pornography accessible to readers at all levels. It is worth noting that one of the contributors, Professor Feona Attwood, is Founding Editor of Routledge's international journal Porn Studies , the pre-eminent publication for porn research and scholarship in the world.